Parry Sound, 1971 to present day

Huntsville Forester

The Department of Transport’s sign that’s posted on Highway 400 reads that the population of Parry Sound is 6,500. Not so. The latest census taken in 2011 has the population of the town at 6,191, some 309 souls short of 6,500. But then, who’s counting.
If we fast track backwards to the year of 1971, I was a district manager for the Toyota Motor Company where the mandate was that the company wanted to duplicate what GM, Ford and Chrysler had done, a franchised dealer and service garage in every town that had a population of 5,000 or more.
For that year, and perhaps it was the same sign, although at that time it was on Highway 69, it had the population of Parry Sound at 6,500. Again a misprint as Stats Canada for 1971 listed the actual figure as being 5,842.
The Tait brothers, who owned Tait’s garage was appointed as the official Toyota dealer for the area. It was located on what is now an empty parking lot to the north of Lill’s place and the Parry Sound Municipal office. I am not too sure when it disappeared or was torn down, perhaps a reader can inform me of an approximate date.
Why hasn’t Parry Sound’s population grown? Over the years, as kids are born, have grown up and they get their primary and high school education, by the time they go onto higher learning, or to take up a trade or just get into the workforce, the opportunities in Parry Sound are limited so they head off, usually to the city to further their education or to simply get a job or into a trade, carpentry, plumbing, mechanics etc where they can make a lot more money than they could if they had stayed in the area.
Another current figure from Stats Canada has the average working male in the Parry Sound area earning a little more than $40,000, while Ontario males on average are earning $50,000 plus per year. The same ratio, albeit at a lower rate, applies to women.
Although some young people have remained and they have done very well for themselves, others have not.
As the life cycle goes and retirement approaches, the longing to go back to their roots begins to take shape, plus getting out of the high rent areas is also a big factor, so as retirees they start to come back and they settle down into their retirement years.
Combined with locals coming home is the fact that many cottagers, and I was one of them, built some 30 or 40 years ago with no thoughts of ever retiring to the “North country.” But with a lot of these cottages now transformed into fully winterized and year-round homes, these folks are abandoning their “down-south” homes in favor of being out of the busy southern Ontario corridor and now living year round at their formerly summer-only residence.
One would think that would be good for the area’s economy. Well it is sort of, but a lot of these retirees head south for the winter and they spend their living-expense cash in the states rather than back home.
The largest block of people now living in the Town of Parry Sound is in the over-60 age bracket. The folks who make up the next largest block, the 45 to 60 group, trail and come in a distant second.
Thanks to more people not smoking, better diets and improved medical services, this group over the age of 60 can expect to live longer and longer. According to Stats Canada, in 2001 they had some 3,125 people on the books who were over the age of 100. Ten years later that figure has more than doubled to 7,569. Ten years from now, that figure could even double.
The Ontario government will spend some $44 billion-plus on health care this year, and 43 per cent of that will be spent on the over 60s, and as this group continues to expand, so will the monies spent on it.
What does all of this mean? The way I see it, the Town of Parry Sound isn’t increasing its population, it’s changing its age demographics with far more old folk than young folk
Right now, I am of the opinion that the people who dish out the Parry Sound and area health services from administrators to doctors to EMS people to cooks and the cleaning staff and everyone in between including the staff at the various nursing stations are doing a phenomenally great job. To my way of thinking, everyone in the Parry Sound heathcare system should get a huge pat on the back and keep up the good work.
But how long will that last? The system is starting to bulge at the seams where it has to look after the residents of Parry Sound plus the surrounding areas as well. In itself, that’s not too bad, although if the swing keeps going to more and more elderly coming home to retire, more help from the province and the feds is needed to keep the services at the level we are now enjoying.
My take that is.